


You Keep Using That Word

by Thymelady



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: F/M, platonic my ass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 21:31:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6394630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thymelady/pseuds/Thymelady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...I don't think it means what you think it means. A comparison in platonic relationships. Jenny doesn't buy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Keep Using That Word

Jenny and Joe had always been good friends. Not just when he was a little kid, but also growing up. They were never brother and sister, but friends. Different, but that made them just better. And it had been platonic. Always. Until it wasn't just platonic anymore. 

When they were platonic friends, they joked about everything. The fact that people believed them to be together was _hilarious_. They even used that to their advantage if they got something out of it. They'd snort and move on. It wasn't a big deal. No use trying to put people right and shout "we're just friends!!"

When Joe was leaving for Afghanistan, he'd visit her in Tarrytown Psychiatric. They had had some discussions about whether it might benefit them to actually be married. Jenny getting out sooner, Joe coming home more often, Jenny being beneficiary if something happened to Joe. They could discuss this openly. They could handle the facts around this. It wasn't first and foremost about cheating a system: they cared for one another and wanted to look out for one another. Who said that was only the prerogative for lovers? So... if a marriage was a way for the best of friends to solve a problem, why not use it?

And when it did come to lovers: they had always been direct to one another. When Jenny set Joe up with Diane, he came back and asked her 'what the hell??' and they'd had a good laugh about it. When Jenny met another stupid piece of meat, Joe would talk sense into her. It didn't always help and sometimes they'd get into a fight. But they respected each other. No attempts to be covering up opinions. No attempts to hiding what they felt for other people. Because... they were platonic friends. Friends told friends when they had feelings for other people, it was nothing to beat around the bush about. They sure didn't shut up when their friends dated someone who was bad for them. 

When Joe became a Wendigo, it was horrible. The fact that Joe might die was just not an option; and they saved him then. Jenny would have been devastated if he died. But she was tough. She had lost so many friends before. It didn't enter her mind that she might help him by turning into a monster herself, or follow him into some sort of realm between life and death. She certainly didn't drive a motorcycle into the river about it.

It only started to get embarrassing between Jenny and Joe when it didn't feel platonic anymore. Jenny fleetingly considered getting it out of her system by hooking up with some old flame. Joe got so extra attentive that she didn't know what to do with him. But there was honesty between them. They let it happen. 

And when Joe risked himself and nearly died, it wasn't just about losing a friend anymore. It was about losing her whole world. She was ready to face him as a monster and go to any realm for his sake. She could admit that she loved him.

That was love, not a platonic and honest friendship. 

So Abbie and Crane could try all they wanted. As long as _their_ so called 'platonic friendship' couldn't deal with what she and Joe had taken in a stride back before they were lovers, then they sure as hell weren't as platonic as they were trying to tell themselves. Or others.

**Author's Note:**

> So I am angry at the show. Also, I sat down and thought about a very close friend I had who passed away last year. We sort of had what I described between Joe and Jenny in this fic. And it was truly platonic. I miss him every day, and it got my muse into focus. I'm grateful for that, because I feared I would never want to write Ichabbie again. But I will just try to ignore canon more than ever.


End file.
